The almost edge-of-the-seat excitement about the value of our Archant shares ended today, when we received a latter to say they were now officially worthless. This is the result of a company restructuring – the main reason for which, as far as I can tell, is to save the pension scheme. So that part is good – for the moment, at least. To put it in perspective, the shares were only worth about 50p each, though at one point I could have sold them – and indeed did sell most of them – for £20 each. Ho, hum.
Meanwhile our extensive electrical work continues, though we may be entering the home stretch. Our new lights in the lounge are now installed, and yesterday Gary put in new sockets in the bedroom, including charging points. He is now working on the other bedroom socket and replacing a connecting box in the loft. He still has to do a check on the remaining sockets in the house to ensure their safety. When he eventually leaves, this should be the safest house in the road, electrically speaking.
The plumbing is another matter. Robin will start on our shower room on September 9, but before that he will be fixing the cistern in the bathroom, which is falling apart. I have had to turn off the water that feeds it. The one in the cloakroom downstairs also needs a replacement part because it is not shutting off properly after it’s flushed. These problems arose immediately after an Anglian Water guy fitted a new meter outside, which I’m sure is a coincidence. Fairly sure, anyway.
Last Saturday seems a long time ago, but if I remember rightly we visited the tile shop and Dovetail, where we found some flooring for the bathroom. The tile shop were very helpful, but in the end we decided to let Robin sort it out, because some of the work will be fiddly. The next day we went to the usual St Augustine’s service at St Luke’s, and I did the prayers for Liz Day, who had a bad knee (presumably from kneeling). As it turned out, she did come to church anyway. There was a bit of a bombshell at the end of the service, when priest-in-charge Sarah said she would be leaving in November to take up a similar post at Carleton Colville, where I went to Marjorie’s funeral not so long ago. We will miss her: the future for the church is once again shrouded in uncertainty.
On Monday we drove to North Walsham, did a bit of shopping in Sainsbury’s and put some flowers on the two graves, then continued to Mundesley and walked on the beach. It was warm and sunny, and there were quite a few people around, but not so many as to threaten social distancing. Afterwards we bought an ice cream (sorbet for me – both very good) and drove home via the Rosary, where we put some flowers on my parents’ grave for their anniversary (Aug 27).
The next day I spent mainly writing my Parish Pump articles after consulting with Anne in case she’d made other arrangements. Meanwhile Dot sorted out her tax stuff. We watched a couple of films – A Most Wanted Man and The Importance of Being Ernest. The former was excellent but had a typical John le Carre downbeat ending; the latter was brilliant but had a poor soundtrack, which was annoying.
Wednesday was very wet to start with but had cleared up in time for us to go to Vicky’s for Cake and Compline. It was cooler than of late, but she had a fire pit in her garden; so we weren’t cold. We gave Eleanor a lift, and everyone was there. Spoke to Jared and Amy: it was a really nice evening.
Yesterday was an all-action day, during which I managed to finish my sermon for Sunday (though I suspect I will be adjusting it today) and Dot did the last day of her retreat, which she’s really enjoyed. Gary arrived at 9am, and at 10am Matt came round to have a look at my Brompton bike, which he said was worth several hundred pounds. He spent quite a long time on it, and took it for a ride in the road afterwards. Des continues getting our groceries: when I suggest we could get them ourselves now, he looks quite disappointed. So he continues to help us. I wrote three poems.
As Gary was leaving, Robin arrived; so we showed him the defective loos, and he said he’d fix them before doing the shower room. he also made a decision on the tiles – I’m not sure what it was. Later we watched Life of Pi, which was excellent, and David FaceTimed us. The grandchildren are now in Scarborough, celebrating Julia’s birthday. They, Vicky and Matt are staying in the flat, while Julia and Dave are in a hotel.
The weather here and there has been rather windy, but worse in other parts of the country, with some flooding in places. Dot has been up to the lighting shop to buy bulbs for our lounge lights, which proved pretty expensive but have a two-year guarantee; so that’s all right.